Davy Fitzgerald and Brian Lohan to face-off as Clare and Wexford paired in All-Ireland qualifiers

Former teammates Davy Fitzgerald and Brian Lohan will go head-to-head next weekend in the hurling qualifiers as Wexford and Clare have been paired together.

There is no love lost between the pair with their relationship having broken down completely in recent years, despite winning All-Irelands alongside each other for the Banner in 1995 and ‘97.

When they met in the League earlier this year, Clare scored a victory at Chadwicks Wexford Park and there was no handshake between the two managers afterwards.

The counties last met in the Championship in 2018 when Clare scored a decisive victory in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Prior to that, in 2014 Fitzgerald was in charge of Clare, the then All-Ireland champions, when the counties met in the qualifiers as Wexford scored a sensational victory after extra time in a replay.

Lohan’s Clare side were dumped out of the Munster Championship after a 10-point defeat to Limerick and they scored an unconvincing win over Laois on Saturday to keep their heads above water, while Wexford are still smarting from their heavy loss to Galway in the Leinster semi-final, with Fitzgerald lambasting their performances afterwards.

The other tie sees Munster’s two traditional heavyweights, Cork and Tipperary, paired in a winner-takes-all tie.

Cork got back on track with an impressive win over Dublin on Saturday having been outplayed by Waterford in the Munster semi-final, while All-Ireland champions Tipperary must bounce back from being comprehensively beaten in the Munster semi-final by Limerick.

The counties last met in a knockout tie in 2014 All-Ireland semi-final, when Tipperary scored a 2-18 to 1-11 victory, while their only previous meetings in the qualifiers were in 2004 and ‘07 (round robin), with a win apiece.

Whoever wins the two games will progress to the All-Ireland quarter-finals where they will meet one of the losers from the Galway-Kilkenny and Limerick-Waterford Leinster and Munster finals respectively.

The Central Competitions Control Committee will meet later to choose times, dates and venues for the two games, which will be played next weekend.

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Qualifiers, Round Two

Clare v Wexford
Cork v Tipperary